Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
(14) The Apostle: Until We Meet Again!
(Acts 20:17-38)
“And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.”
(Acts 20:32)
What was the most difficult “goodbye” you ever had to say? Was it to a family member who was dying? Was it to co-workers when you left for a different job or retirement? Was it to family and friends when you moved to a different city?
Our scripture passage today finds the Apostle Paul near the end of his third missionary journey. He is heading back to Jerusalem , accompanied by delegates from the various churches taking contributions they had collected at Paul's request to assist the church in Jerusalem. The group had stopped briefly in Troas and then had moved on to Miletus, which was near the city of Ephesus. It was in Ephesus, of course, that Paul had spent more than two years establishing the church there.
While in Miletus, Paul sent a message to Ephesus, some thirty miles away, asking the elders of the church there to come and see him. This was going to mark Paul's “goodbye” to them. It was also Paul's desire to give the elders encouragement and to remind them of Christ's power in their lives. He wanted to be sure that they continued to grow in Christ. Paul knew some of the dangers they would face, but he also knew the sufficiency of Christ to help them meet those dangers.
When the elders arrived in Miletus, Paul greets them and then gives them a sort of farewell speech. First, he reminds them that in Ephesus he did everything out of faithfulness to his calling. He served with humility and tears and he endured the trials that came to him through the plots of the Jews. In short, he had given them his all.
Then he tells them that the Holy Spirit has now called him to go to Jerusalem, even though the Spirit has also revealed that his going there will mean imprisonment and persecutions. And Paul had already experienced both of those.
One commentator has suggested that if we were to study a portrait of Paul painted by a realistic artist, we would first notice his scars and bruises” (Swindoll, Paul , W Publishing Group [Nashville, 2002], p. 233).
There is no question but that Paul suffered a great deal during his ministry. As he wrote in his letter to the Galatians, “I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body” (Galatians 6:17). And he did – literally! They were like the marks on a slave.
In the first century, slaves had the names of their owners burned onto their bodies. They were branded like cattle.
But Paul's scars were different. His scars marked his sufferings for Christ -- when he was stoned, pummeled in body and beaten with rods. Every one of his scars was a permanent reminder that he belonged to his master, Jesus. Each had come to him for the sake of Christ and the gospel.
Scars. Throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in every other war our nation has fought, we have seen the stories and listened to the accounts of the heroic deeds of our military and of the deaths and injuries that tens of thousands of them have suffered. Those who live with the injuries suffered in war bear scars – the marks of liberty – and deserve our lasting respect and gratitude.
In a manner much similar, that was Paul. Crippled from unjust blows from his enemies, he stood broken in body but never broken in spirit. In fact, only rarely does Paul call attention to his scars and sufferings in his many letters. On the few occasions when he does speak of them, however, it's never about him, but always about his Savior.
I think the interesting thing about Paul is not so much to know about his afflictions – as many of those as there were. What is more intriguing is the way he handled them. That was a part of his greatness. Remember how he wrote to the Corinthians, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).
In all his sufferings, Paul never blamed God. He never asked, “Why me?” He never shook his fist at heaven. He endured it all as part of his commitment to Christ. What an incredible example he set!
James Stewart, the celebrated Scottish preacher, made the observation once, “It is always upon human weakness and humiliation, not human strength and confidence, that God chooses to build his Kingdom. …He uses us not merely in spite of our ordinariness and … infirmities, but precisely because of them” (Ibid, Swindoll, p. 241).
How many are the times when you and I need to remember that truth! We all get discouraged at times. We all have nights when we don't sleep very well. We all experience times when we feel utterly dejected. It is at those moments that we need to remember Paul's words, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Whenever any of us is struggling with our inadequacies, whether at work, in parenting, in our Christian witness or wherever, we need to remember God's word to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 121:7).
So Paul tells the elders from the church in Ephesus, “I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace” (Acts 20:24).
Through the ministry of Paul, much had been accomplished in Ephesus. Into the midst of that city where the making of silver icons of the goddess Artemis had flourished, the message of Christ had cut right to the heart of that business and although a near riot had ensued and many of the new believers had barely escaped with their lives, nevertheless, a strong church had been established. Yes, Paul had accomplished much!
But now it was time to go. Paul warned the elders of certain dangers they would inevitably face because of their faith. He warns that some from their own group will distort the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them.
Then he says, “None of you … will ever see my face again” (Acts 20:25). In other words, he was saying farewell. Then he adds, “And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).
When Paul had finished, we are told that there was much weeping among the elders, especially because of what he had said – that they would not see him again. Then Luke tells us that they brought him to the ship on which he would sail away.
How could they do that? How could they let him sail away knowing they would never see him again?
Well, the answer is simple: they could say farewell because they had listened to Paul's words about the resurrection of Jesus from dead. Down deep, they knew this was not the last time they would see Paul. For if Christ had risen from the dead, then in Christ, Paul, too, would rise from the dead.
Christians never say “Goodbye.” Christians say, “Until we meet again.” We say that because that is the promise of our faith.
Many of you are familiar with Henry Van Dyke's “A Parable of Immortality.” I've shared this before at memorial services. His words echo our Christian hope.
“I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads
her white sails in the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch her until
at length she hangs like a speck of
white cloud, just where the sea
and sky come down to mingle with
each other.
Then someone at my side says:
"There! She's gone!"
Gone where? Gone from my sight -
that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and
spar as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load of
living freight to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me,
not in her;
And just at the moment when someone
at my side says: "There! She's gone!"
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up
the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
And that is dying.
True Christian believers have always found the strength to say farewell because they know that there will be another shore called heaven. And on the shores of heaven, we will enjoy a day of glad reunion. That is how you and I can say farewell! We can let the person go, only because we know that a time will come when in Christ, we will all be resurrected for an eternity of communion.
We will still grieve the loss of loved ones, but we do not grieve as people who have no hope, because we know that the ship called death is only taking them to the other shore where there are other loved ones waiting for their arrival.
We know that the day will come, indeed, when we will see them more fully than ever before.
With that same faith, the elders bade farewell to Paul and sent him on his way.
